“UMS’s 2019/20 season was conceived with an eye toward the familiar and the disruptive, the traditional and the uncommon, and the emotional and the provocative — sometimes even within a single work or performance.”

— UMS President Matthew VanBesien

Welcome to UMS’s 141st season

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2019/20 Season Tickets

Press Resources

View Full Press Release (PDF)

View Chronological List of Events (PDF)

Season Highlights

No Safety Net 2.0 is three-week festival of four provocative theater productions that foster timely conversations around topical social themes.

Yo-Yo Ma returns in a program with Emanuel Ax and Leonidas Kavakos, performing Beethoven Piano Trios.

The season launches with a performance by jazz/funk collective Snarky Puppy.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra and UMS Choral Union will perform the live film score to a screening of Amadeus.

Starting in 2019/20 and for the next few seasons, UMS is pleased to renew a focus on artists, institutions, and ensembles from the Arab World — including Tania El Khoury’s As Far As My Fingertips Take Me and a performance by the Tarek Yamani Trio.

Two Swan Lakes. American Ballet Theatre returns to the Detroit Opera House in a co-presentation with Michigan Opera Theatre, and Irish dance-theatre company Teaċ Daṁsa makes its UMS debut in an acclaimed contemporary and dark deconstruction of the classic tale.

The biennial UMS Song Remix series returns with a focus on the art of the song in its diverse forms — including a co-commission of Zauberland with international partners.

UMS will present a co-commissioned work by Andrew Norman in a “composer’s evening” with yMusic, also featuring music by contemporary luminaries such as Caroline Shaw, Michigan natives Andrew Norman and Shara Nova (also known as My Brightest Diamond), Missy Mazzoli, and Gabriella Smith.

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How to Order Season Tickets

Current season ticketholders can renew their series with priority seating starting Monday, April 15 at 9 am.

Season Tickets go on sale to the general public Monday, April 22 at 9 am. Choose five or more concerts and save when you create your own Series:You package, or select from one of UMS’s 10 fixed series packages, specially curated by genre.

Explore All Series

Individual event tickets will go on sale Wednesday, August 7.

This post is a part of a series of playlists curated by UMS staff, artists, and community. Check out more music here.

Now that we’ve announced our 2014-2015 season, it’s time to get more closely acquainted with its sounds. Listen along with our Spotify playlist featuring artists on our next season.

We can’t wait for this season to begin.

This year, we are challenging the boundaries of convention while honoring tradition. We’re taking you on a remarkable journey that is sure to enlighten, inspire, transport, and transform. Welcome to the 2014-2015 UMS Season.

Each UMS season is designed to take you on a journey. A geographical journey throughout the world. A journey of genre, expanding definitions and dimensions. A journey inward, created to inspire selfreflection. Come witness all that we have to offer.

Find out more about who’s coming, watch our season announcement video:

For chapters of this video focusing on each series, check out our YouTube channel.

Check out our 2014-2015 season brochure:

We’ve also got the complete 2014-2015 season listing with details about each event on our website.

Which performances are you excited about? Tell us in the comments below.

Our 2013-2014 season announcement video highlights some of next season’s incredible performers. Take a look at the season brochure here.

Surprising. Invigorating. Disruptive. Inspiring. Captivating.

These are just a few of the words we heard when asking audiences for their impressions immediately following performances this past season. This instant reaction gets to the heart of what it means to be present: to be there, in person, interacting with some of the best performers in the world in the extraordinary transaction between artist and audience.

And our 2013-2014 season’s performances will go even one step beyond. Some traditional. Some outside the lines. All designed to move you. But only if you choose to be present.

Watch our season announcement video:

Check out our 2013-2014 season brochure:

We’ve also got the complete 2013-2014 season listing with details about each event on our website.

What performances are you excited about? Tell us in the comments below.

Need the 2013-2014 season announcement video by chapter?

Choral Union

Chamber Arts

Jazz

Global Music

Theater

Dance

And more

It’s an exciting time at UMS. Thanks to your generosity and passion, we are coming off of a monumental season that brought us extraordinary experiences both on and off the performance stage. As we launch our 2012-2013 season, we mark 134 years of UMS and we celebrate 50 years of Chamber Music and 100 years of Hill Auditorium, a world-renowned venue right here in Ann Arbor.

As we look ahead to 2012-2013, we wonder: What will create a stir? What will give you goosebumps? What will make you think? What will get you talking? What will leave you speechless?

The only way to know the answers is to be present, in every meaning of the word.  Our locally cherished and globally respected series of classical music, theater, dance, jazz, and global performances has the ability to challenge, excite, inspire, shift perspective, and ultimately change the way you see the world.

Find out more by:

• Watching our season announcement video, with details on all 2012-2013 events
• Visit our new website at www.ums.org for a complete season listing, as well as detailed information and media on each artist in the 2012-2013 season. Or, for a quick listing, check out our series brochure.

Subscriptions go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, May 1. Subscriber benefits include access to the best seats in the house, installment billing, free parking, free ticket exchanges, and great discounts – all yours when you subscribe to any fixed or SERIES:YOU (formerly known as Monogram) package.  Tickets to individual events go on sale on Monday, August 6, so a subscription is the best way to lock in the events you know you don’t to miss.

We can’t wait to hear from you. Tell us what you’re excited to see in the comments below!

And thank you for being part of the UMS experience.

Need the season announcement video by series?

Choral Union

Chamber Arts

International Theater

Dance

Jazz

Global Music

And more

The 11/12 UMS season brochure just arrived at our office, and we’re getting it out in the mail just as soon as we can.  You can catch a sneak peek by viewing the digital version here
(click through for full screen view).

This year’s International Theater Series features three productions at the Power Center. The series begins with Ireland’s acclaimed Gate Theater Company performing a double-bill of two one-act plays by Samuel Beckett, Endgame and Watt. As previously announced, the series continues with Einstein on the Beach, the seminal opera by Philip Glass and Robert Wilson with choreography by Lucinda Childs. Considered one of the most remarkable performance works of our time, this performances launches a world tour of what will likely be the last reconstructions of this work designed and led by its original creators. Closing the series is The Andersen Project, a solo performance created by Canadian theater visionary Robert Lepage and performed by Yves Jacques that explores sexual identity, unfulfilled fantasies, and the thirst for recognition and fame through Hans Christian Andersen’s timeless fables.

Subscription packages go on sale to the general public on Monday, May 9, and will be available through Friday, September 17. Current subscribers will receive renewal packets in early May and may renew their series upon receipt of the packet. Tickets to individual events will go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 22 (via www.ums.org) and Wednesday, August 24 (in person and by phone). Not sure if you’re on our mailing list? Click here to update your mailing address to be sure you’ll receive a brochure.

Samuel Beckett’s Endgame and Watt
Gate Theatre of Dublin
Michael Cogan, director
Thursday, October 27, 7:30 pm
Friday, October 28, 8 pm
Saturday, October 29, 8 pm
Power Center

Straight from Ireland comes the Gate Theatre, largely considered the interpreter of Beckett in the world.  Endgame, like Waiting for Godot, is considered one of Beckett’s most important works, written in a style associated with the Theatre of the Absurd. The bizarre adventures of Watt (a novel written while Beckett was in hiding during World War II) and his struggles to make sense of the world around him is told with elegant simplicity, immense pathos, and explosive humor.  This week-long residency will be accompanied by a week-long festival of the complete Beckett works on film.

Philip Glass & Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach
Lucinda Childs, choreographer
Friday, January 20, 7pm
Saturday, January 21, 7pm
Sunday, January 22,  2pm
Power Center

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.” — Albert Einstein

Widely credited as one of the greatest artistic achievements of the 20th century, this rarely-performed work will be reconstructed for a major international tour (including the first North American presentations ever held outside of New York City) nearly four decades after it was first performed and 20 years since its last production.  Non-narrative in form, the work uses a series of powerful recurrent images as its main storytelling device, shown in juxtaposition with abstract dance sequences created by American choreographer Lucinda Childs. Prior to the production’s final technical rehearsals and world premiere in Montpelier, France, UMS will host the creators, musicians, performers, and crew for Einstein for three weeks as they reconstruct and rehearse the work for what is likely to be the final world tour designed and led by its creators. These early preview performances will be the only opportunity to see Einstein on the Beach in the Midwest.

Click the video below to watch some excerpts from Einstein on the Beach with audio commentary from collaborator Robert Wilson.

The Andersen Project
Ex Machina
Robert Lepage, artistic director
Thursday, March 15, 7:30 pm
Friday, March 16, 8 pm
Saturday, March 17, 8 pm
Power Center

Filled to the brim with his trademark humor and visual and technological brilliance, this off-the-wall masterpiece by Canadian theater visionary Robert Lepage stars Yves Jacques (Far Side of the Moon) in a one-man tour-de-force about a Canadian writer from the rock-and-roll milieu who is unexpectedly commissioned by the Opera Garnier in Paris to write a libretto for a children’s opera.  Freely inspired by the timeless fables written by Hans Christian Andersen, who as it turns out, didn’t really like children, as well as anecdotes from the author’s personal diaries, The Andersen Project keenly explores unraveling relationships, personal demons, the thirst for recognition, and compromise that comes too late.

Return to the complete chronological list.

The UMS Dance Series includes four events in Ann Arbor’s Power Center. The series begins with the Mark Morris Dance group performing two nights of new repertory. Two companies make their UMS debuts: Taiwan’s Cloud Gate Dance Theatre with Water Stains on the Wall and Random Dance, a company started by Wayne McGregor, whose groundbreaking collaborations across dance, film, music, visual art, and science are evident in the company’s presentation of FAR. Finally, Ballet Preljocaj’s production of Snow White, set to music by Gustav Mahler and featuring costumes by Jean Paul Gaultier, closes the dance season.

Subscription packages go on sale to the general public on Monday, May 9, and will be available through Friday, September 17. Current subscribers will receive renewal packets in early May and may renew their series upon receipt of the packet. Tickets to individual events will go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 22 (via www.ums.org) and Wednesday, August 24 (in person and by phone). Not sure if you’re on our mailing list? Click here to update your mailing address to be sure you’ll receive a brochure.

Mark Morris Dance Group
Friday & Saturday, September 23 & 24, 8 pm
Power Center

Mark Morris has changed the way that audiences see modern dance, with unique artistry that reflects a profound and sophisticated love of music. His company of exuberant dancers lives up to its reputation of wit, grace, and a refined musicality that is further reinforced by Morris’s use of live musicians in every performance. These two performances feature new Morris repertoire.

Program
Excursions (Barber’s Excursions for Piano, Op. 20)
Festival Dance (Hummel Piano Quartet)
Socrates (Erik Satie’s Socrates for tenor and piano)

Water Stains on the Wall
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre
Lin Hwai-min, artistic director
Friday, October 21, 8pm
Saturday, October 22, 8pm
Power Center

Trained in tai chi, meditation, Chinese opera movement, modern dance, and ballet, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre performs a rich repertoire with roots in Asian myths, folklore, and aesthetics, all infused with a contemporary perspective. For this long-awaited UMS debut, Cloud Gate presents Hwai-min’s newest work, Water Stains on the Wall. “Water stains on the wall” is a popular metaphor that represents the highest state in the aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy. Hwai-min and dancers take off from this metaphor and create and abstract work of beauty and magic that stands sublimely on its own.

FAR
Random Dance
Wayne McGregor, artistic director
Friday, February 17, 8 pm
Power Center

Random Dance was founded in 1992 and became the instrument upon which Wayne McGregor evolved his drastically fast and articulate choreographic style.  The company became a byword for its radical approach to new technology, incorporating animation, digital film, 3D architecture, electronic sound, and virtual dancers into the live choreography.  In FAR, cutting edge design is fused with choreography made from a radical cognitive research process. FAR “talks about the Enlightenment’s fascination with the working of the mind and the dissection of the body…draw[ing] to a close with…the utmost tenderness and finality.” (The Times, London)

Snow White
Ballet Preljocaj
Angelin Preljocaj, artistic director
Thursday, April 19, 7:30 pm
Friday, April 20, 8 pm
Saturday, April 21, 8 pm
Power Center

After more than a decade since its UMS debut,  Ballet Preljocaj (pronounced prezh-oh-kahzh) returns with its production of Snow White. Angelin Preljocaj has created a work for all 26 dancers of his company, setting the Grimm brothers’ version of the fairytale to the most beautiful scores of Gustav Mahler’s symphonies for this romantic contemporary ballet. With costumes designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, this production of Snow White is sure to shake up those who have grown up with only the Disney version at their disposal.

Return to the complete chronological list.

Several additional events will also be presented as part of the UMS 11/12 season, and can be purchased as part of the choose-your-own Monogram Series.

Subscription packages go on sale to the general public on Monday, May 9, and will be available through Friday, September 17. Current subscribers will receive renewal packets in early May and may renew their series upon receipt of the packet. Tickets to individual events will go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 22 (via www.ums.org) and Wednesday, August 24 (in person and by phone). Not sure if you’re on our mailing list? Click here to update your mailing address to be sure you’ll receive a brochure.

Audra McDonald
Friday, November 4, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

She may be a Juilliard-trained four-time Tony Award-winning singer and actress who has released four solo albums and performed with every major orchestra in the US, but Audra McDonald is not one to rest on her laurels.  McDonald returns to the concert stage after her last UMS appearance in 2005; since that time, she has made her Houston Grand Opera debut, won her fourth Tony (for A Raisin in the Sun), played Olivia in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at The Public  Theatre Shakespeare in the Park, performed at the White House for President Obama, and spent four years on the ABC series “Private Practice.” Her break from the television series allows her time to return back to her musical theater  roots, including this Hill Auditorium concert.

Canadian Brass
Sunday, November 27, 4 pm
Hill Auditorium

Five tremendous brass musicians — each a virtuoso in his own right — form the legendary Canadian Brass. With an international reputation as one of the most popular brass ensembles today, Canadian Brass features brass standards as well as a wide-ranging library of original arrangements created especially for them, including the works of Renaissance and Baroque  masters, classical works, marches, holiday favorites, ragtime, Dixieland, big band, Broadway, and popular songs and standards. This Thanksgiving-weekend concert is sure to start your holidays off with a bang.  The hallmark of any Canadian Brass performance is entertainment, spontaneity, virtuosity and, most of all,  fun.

Handel’s Messiah
Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra
UMS Choral Union
Jerry Blackstone, conductor
Saturday, December 3, 8 pm
Sunday, December 4, 2 pm
Hill Auditorium

The Grammy Award-winning UMS Choral Union (2006 “Best Choral Performance” for William Bolcom’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience) launches the holiday season with its signature work, Handel’s glorious oratorio Messiah.  An Ann Arbor tradition in the beautiful surroundings of Hill Auditorium, these performances are ultimately the heart and soul of UMS, connecting audiences not only with the talented people on stage, but also with the friends and family who attend each year.   Start off your holiday season with a spirited “Hallelujah!”

Sweet Honey In The Rock
Friday, February 17, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

For over three decades, Sweet Honey In The Rock has used her voice to celebrate our collective humanity, singing about the challenging issues of racism; social, economic, and environmental injustice; equal rights and greed that seem to be pulling our nation apart.  The group has built a distinguished legacy as one of the most celebrated ambassadors of a cappella music, fusing five scintillating and soulful voices with the texture, harmonic blend, and raw quality that is indigenous and true to authentic a cappella music.  In the tradition of artists in action — this is the group that sang on the steps of the Supreme Court on behalf of the University of Michigan’s affirmative action case — Sweet Honey taps the spirit, encourages audiences to think, asks them to reflect, and inspires them to make a difference in their communities.

American Mavericks
San Francisco Symphony Chamber Concert
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Meredith Monk and Joan La Barbara, vocals
Sunday, March 25, 4 pm
Rackham Auditorium

This final concert of the four-concert San Francisco Symphony American Mavericks residency features 17 musicians from the San Francisco Symphony performing chamber music. The festival celebrates the creative pioneering spirit and the composers who created a new American musical voice for the 20th century and beyond. American mavericks explored every sound that a full orchestra could make, but they also composed fascinating, and invigorating, chamber music. This concert features intriguing chamber works from composers whose music will shape the decades to come.

Program
Meredith Monk | New Work
Lukas Foss | Echoi
Morton Subotnick | From Jacob’s Room
David Del Tredici | Syzygy

Return to the complete chronological list.

Within the signature Choral Union Series, UMS presents 10 concerts in historic Hill Auditorium:

Subscription packages go on sale to the general public on Monday, May 9, and will be available through Friday, September 17. Current subscribers will receive renewal packets in early May and may renew their series upon receipt of the packet. Tickets to individual events will go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 22 (via www.ums.org) and Wednesday, August 24 (in person and by phone). Not sure if you’re on our mailing list? Click here to update your mailing address to be sure you’ll receive a brochure.

John Malkovich in The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer
with The Vienna Academy Orchestra
and sopranos Valerie Vinzant and Louise Fribo
Martin Haselböck, conductor
Saturday, October 1, 8pm

John Malkovich makes his UMS debut as a dead serial killer who returns to the stage to present his autobiography in a public reading. Malkovich appears as part of a theatrical opera of sorts that features a 40-piece chamber orchestra and two sopranos telling the real-life story of Jack Unterweger, a convicted murderer and acclaimed prison poet who had been pardoned by the Austrian president Kurt Waldheim in 1990 at the behest of Viennese literati. This gripping performance uses arias and music by Gluck, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Boccherini, and Haydn as the counterpoint to Malkovich’s emotional monologue, which shifts between reality and delusion.

Yuja Wang, piano
Sunday, October 9, 4pm

Twenty-four-year-old Chinese pianist Yuja Wang is widely recognized for playing that combines the spontaneity and fearless imagination of youth with the discipline and precision of a mature artist. She made her UMS debut in January 2008, just months after graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music, and since then has spent each year criss-crossing the globe with a cavalcade of impressive debuts and awards, including the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, given to select musicians destined for bright solo careers.

Program
Ravel | Miroirs
Copland | Piano Variations
Rachmaninoff | Selected Preludes
Brahms | Sonata No. 1 or No. 3

Apollo’s Fire with Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor
Jeannette Sorrell, music director
Thursday, November 3, 8pm

UMS is delighted to welcome French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky in his UMS debut for this performance with Apollo’s Fire, “one of the nation’s leading baroque orchestras.” (Boston Globe) Named for the classical god of music and the sun, Apollo’s Fire was founded in 1992 by the young harpsichordist and conductor Jeannette Sorrell, who envisioned an ensemble dedicated to the baroque ideal that music should evoke various passions in its listeners. Together they explore the full dramatic range of Handel and Vivaldi’s arias for the virtuoso castrato singers of the 18th century.

Program
Handel | “Disperato il mar turbato” from Oreste
Handel | “Con l’ali di costanza” from Ariodante
Vivaldi | Concerto for Four Violins in b minor
Vivaldi | “Se in ogni guardo” from Orlando Finto Pazzo
Vivaldi | “Se mai senti spirati sul volto” from Catone in Utica
Vivaldi/Sorrell | La Folia (“Madness”)
Vivaldi | “Vedro con mio diletto” from Giustino
Vivaldi | “Nel profondo” from Orlando Furioso

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski, conductor
Janine Jansen, violin
Tuesday, December 6, 8pm

The London Philharmonic returns for its first appearance since November 2006, this time under the direction of the exciting young conductor Vladimir Jurowski, who became the orchestra’s principal conductor in 2007, succeeding Kurt Masur. Janine Jansen, a 23-year-old violinist who has been a huge star in her native Holland ever since her Concertgebouw debut at the age of 10, makes her UMS debut as violin soloist.

Program
Pintscher | Towards Osiris (2005)
Mozart | Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219 (1775)
Tchaikovsky | Manfred Symphony, Op. 58 (1885)

From the Canyon to the Stars
Hamburg State Symphony
Jeffrey Tate, conductor
Francesco Tristano, piano
Daniel Landau, filmmaker
Sunday, January 29, 4pm

In 1971, Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist who contributed toward the construction of the chamber music hall in Lincoln Center that bears her name, commissioned the French composer Olivier Messiaen to write a piece commemorating America’s Bicentennial. Messiaen was inspired and fascinated by the natural wonder he found in the landscapes of the American West. Des canyons aux étoiles represents Messiaen’s sonic impressions of America’s last untouched frontier.

Program
Messiaen | Des canyons aux étoiles

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
Pinchas Zukerman, violin
Friday, March 9, 8pm

Riccardo Muti, the Chicago Symphony’s new music director, makes his first UMS appearance in 6 years, conducting an all-Brahms program. Violinist Pinchas Zukerman, recognized as a phenomenon for nearly four decades, returns to UMS for a performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto.

Program
Brahms |  Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77
Brahms |  Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73

Denis Matsuev, piano
Thursday, March 15, 8pm

Anyone who attended last season’s concert by the Mariinsky Orchestra came away talking about one thing: the astonishing piano soloist Denis Matsuev, whose extraordinary performance of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto had the audience buzzing in the lobby at intermission, immediately after the performance, and for weeks beyond the concert hall.

Program
Tchaikovsky | Seasons, Op. 37a
Rachmaninoff | Prelude in g minor, Op. 23, No. 5
Rachmaninoff | Prelude in g-sharp minor, Op. 32, No. 12
Rachmaninoff | Étude-Tableaux, Op. 39, No. 6
Scriabin | Etude in c-sharp minor, Op. 2, No. 1
Scriabin | Etude in d-sharp minor, Op. 8, No. 12
Tchaikovsky | Dumka (Russian Rustic Scene), Op. 59
Stravinsky | Three Movements from Petrouchka

American Mavericks
San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Featuring: Emanuel Ax, piano
St. Lawrence String Quartet
Jessye Norman, soprano, Meredith Monk, vocals, and Joan La Barbara, vocals
Jeremy Denk, piano
Paul Jacobs, organ
Thursday, March 22 – Saturday, March 24
As part of its centennial season, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony will present its second American Mavericks Festival in March 2012, which will tour to only two venues in the US: Hill Auditorium and Carnegie Hall. The 2012 festival celebrates the creative pioneering spirit and the composers who created a new American musical voice for the 20th century and beyond.  Choral Union Subscribers may choose two of the three concerts on the series.

Program 1 (Thurs 3/22, 7:30p)
Paul Jacobs, organ
Jeremy Denk, piano

Aaron Copland | Orchestral Variations (1930, orchestrated in 1957)
Henry Cowell | Piano Concerto (1928)
Mason Bates | Mass Transmission (2010)
Lou Harrison | Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra

Program 2 (Fri 3/23, 8pm)
Jessye Norman, soprano
Meredith Monk, vocalist
Joan La Barbara, vocalist
St. Lawrence String Quartet

Henry Cowell | Synchrony
John Adams | Absolute Jest (2011)
John Cage | John Cage Songbooks (1970)
Edgard Varese | Amériques

Program 3 (Sat 3/24, 8pm)
Emanuel Ax, piano

Carl Ruggles | Sun-Treader
Morton Feldman | Piano and Orchestra (1975)
Ives | A Concord Symphony

Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Joshua Bell, director and violinist
Sunday, April 22, 4pm

Formed from a group of leading London musicians and working without a conductor, the Academy gave its first performance in its namesake church in November 1959. For their first UMS appearance in 11 years, the Academy brings their highly lauded sound to an exquisite all-Beethoven program. Superstar violinist Joshua Bell attacks the stunning Beethoven Concerto with his breathtaking virtuosity and sumptuous tone and leads the rest of the program from the concertmaster’s chair.

Program
Beethoven | Coriolan Overture, Op. 62
Beethoven | Concerto for Violin in D Major, Op. 62
Beethoven | Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92

Return to the complete chronological list.

Renegade

The focus on “renegades” in the 11/12 season examines thought-leaders and game-changers in the performing arts and encompasses performances that are part of the UMS International Theater Series, Choral Union Series, Divine Voices, Dance Series, and the Chamber Arts Series. Performances under this umbrella will take place in a ten-week period from January – March 2012 and include:

• Philip Glass & Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach
  
• From the Canyons to the Stars, performed by the Hamburg State Symphony
• The Tallis Scholars, performing Tenebrae Responses by renegade Italian Renaissance composer Carlos Gesualdo
• Random Dance, a company started by Wayne McGregor , the resident choreographer at The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, whose groundbreaking collaborations across dance, film, music, visual art, and science is evident in the company’s presentation of FAR
• Robert Lepage’s The Andersen Project, a solo performance created by this Canadian theater visionary that explores sexual identity, unfulfilled fantasies, and the thirst for recognition and fame through Hans Christian Andersen’s timeless fables
• The four concerts of the San Francisco Symphony’s American Mavericks festival. In addition to the three orchestral concerts noted in the Choral Union Series, members of the San Francisco Symphony will present a chamber music concert to close both the American Mavericks festival and the UMS focus on Renegades.

Subscription packages go on sale to the general public on Monday, May 9, and will be available through Friday, September 17. Current subscribers will receive renewal packets in early May and may renew their series upon receipt of the packet. Tickets to individual events will go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 22 (via www.ums.org) and Wednesday, August 24 (in person and by phone). Not sure if you’re on our mailing list? Click here to update your mailing address to be sure you’ll receive a brochure.

Return to the complete chronological list.

The Divine Voices Series celebrates the choral music tradition with three concerts at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church and one in St. Andrews Episcopal Church.

Subscription packages go on sale to the general public on Monday, May 9, and will be available through Friday, September 17. Current subscribers will receive renewal packets in early May and may renew their series upon receipt of the packet. Tickets to individual events will go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 22 (via www.ums.org) and Wednesday, August 24 (in person and by phone). Not sure if you’re on our mailing list? Click here to update your mailing address to be sure you’ll receive a brochure.

State Symphony Capella of Russia
Valery Polyansky, conductor
Thursday, October 13, 7:30pm
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

Featuring 50 glorious voices, the State Symphony Capella of Russia was founded in 1991 as a result of a merger of the USSR State Chamber Choir and the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR Ministry of Culture. The Capella’s program will include Russian choral works of Bortnianski, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Taneyev, Sidelnikov, and Schnittke, as well as works of Anton Bruckner and Russian folk songs.

Schola Cantorum of Venezuela
María Guinand, conductor
Thursday, October 27, 7:30pm
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

Schola Cantorum de Venezuela is one of the most important choral societies belonging to the growing choral movement in Venezuela. The premiere touring chorus of Latin America, the Schola Cantorum has a breathtaking range of repertoire, from sacred hymns and motets to propulsive rhythmic and tuneful popular idioms of their rich Latin American culture. Their Ann Arbor debut program, “Water and Fiesta,” features songs by composers from Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Uruguay, Cuba, Mexico, and the US.

Veni Emmanuel: Tudor music for Christmas and Advent
Stile Antico
Wednesday, December 7, 7:30pm
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

For this return engagement, Stile Antico moves across town to the beautiful sanctuary of St. Andrews Episcopal Church, where they will perform a program of Tudor music for Christmas and Advent. The program is centered on Thomas Tallis’s magnificent seven-part “Christmas” mass, written for the combined choirs of the Spanish and English Chapels Royal and first performed in December 1554.

The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips, artistic director
Thursday, Feburary 16, 7:30pm
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

The Tallis Scholars add a new dimension to UMS’s focus on artistic renegades, by presenting music of the wealthy Italian prince Carlos Gesualdo, most famous for his obsessive double murder of his wife and her lover, but also a maverick Renaissance composer whose eccentric approach to creating music and whose colorful life story inspired both Nadia Boulanger and Igor Stravinsky several hundred years later. At the centerpiece of this program is the Tenebrae Responses, the liturgy for the final three days of Holy Week. Works by other “maverick” Renaissance composers round out the program.

Return to the complete chronological list.

The 49^th Annual Chamber Arts Series presents seven of today’s leading chamber groups performing both traditional and contemporary repertoire.

All performances take place at Rackham Auditorium.

Subscription packages go on sale to the general public on Monday, May 9, and will be available through Friday, September 17. Current subscribers will receive renewal packets in early May and may renew their series upon receipt of the packet. Tickets to individual events will go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 22 (via www.ums.org) and Wednesday, August 24 (in person and by phone). Not sure if you’re on our mailing list? Click here to update your mailing address to be sure you’ll receive a brochure.

Emerson String Quartet
Sunday, September 18, 4pm

Formed in the bicentennial year of the United States, the Emerson String Quartet took its name from the great American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. This return appearance features the quartet in an all-Mozart program, including his three quartets commissioned by the King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm II.

Program
The Late Quartets:  “King of Prussia”
Mozart | Quartet No. 21 in D Major, K. 575 (1789)
Mozart | Quartet No. 22 in B-flat Major, K. 589 (1790)
Mozart | Adagio and Fugue in c minor, K. 546 (1788)
Mozart | Quartet No. 23 in F Major, K. 590 (1790)

St. Lawrence String Quartet
Saturday, November 12,  8pm

One of the great finds of the 09/10 season was the St. Lawrence String Quartet, which made its UMS debut during its 20th season in a stellar program of Haydn, Ravel, and John Adams. The SLSQ appears twice with UMS in the 11/12 season; they also perform a new work by John Adams with the San Francisco Symphony as part of the Choral Union Series in March.

Program
Haydn | Quartet No. 57 in C Major, Op. 74, No. 1 (1793)
R.M. Schafer | Quartet No. 3 (1981)
Golijov | New Work (composed for SLSQ) (2011)
Haydn | Quartet No. 61 in d minor, Op. 76, No. 2 (“Quinten”) (1796-97)

Les Violons du Roy
Bernard Labadie, conductor
Maurice Steger, recorder
Saturday, January 28,  8pm

The chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy borrows its name from the renowned string orchestra of the court of the French kings. Based in Québec City, the group has a core membership of 15 players who were brought together in 1984 for music director Bernard Labadie. They specialize in the vast repertoire of music for chamber orchestra, performed in the stylistic manner most appropriate to each era.

Program
W.F. Bach | Overture in g minor (originally attributed to J.S. Bach, BWV 1070)
Telemann | Concerto for Recorder in C Major, TWV 51:C1
Scarlatti | Concerto Grosso in Seven Parts, No. 3 in F Major, No. 3
Vivaldi | Concerto for Recorder in c minor, RV 441
Geminiani | Concerto Grosso No. 12 in d minor, “La Folia” (after Corelli)
Geminiani | Concerto for Recorder in F Major (after Corelli)

Sabine Meyer and the Trio di Clarone
Saturday, February 4,  8pm

In addition to developing a systematic training program for the clarinet and breeding horses, Sabine Meyer is regarded as one of the most outstanding soloists of our time. She was solo clarinetist with the Berlin Philharmonic, a position she left as she became increasingly in demand as a solo artist. Today, in addition to her solo appearances, she performs in two chamber ensembles, including the Trio di Clarone, whose other members are her husband and her brother. Trio di Clarone began in 1983, in part because of their shared interest in the basset horn, a rare instrument in the clarinet family that was used in Mozart’s Requiem and in his five divertimenti written for a trio of basset horns.

Program
Mozart | Three Arias from The Marriage of Figaro
Poulenc | Sonata for Two Clarinets
Stravinsky | Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo
J.S. Bach | French Suite No. 5 for Two Clarinets and Basset horn
Mozart | Divertimento No. 1 for Three Basset horns, K. 439b
C.P.E. Bach | Duo for Two Clarinets in C Major, Wq. 142
Mozart | Four Arias from Cosi fan tutte for Three Basset horns

Chamber Ensemble of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra
Friday, February 10,  8pm

The 20 members of the Shanghai Traditional Chamber Ensemble are drawn from the first large-scale modern orchestra of traditional instruments in China. While Chinese stars such as Lang Lang have brought new attention to Western classical music in China, this ensemble provides a window into the traditional Chinese classical music that dates back centuries.

Hagen Quartet
Thursday, February 23,  8pm

Regarded internationally as one of the foremost string quartets of the day, the Hagen Quartet consists of the two brothers Lukas (violin) and Clemens (cello) and their sister Veronika Hagen (viola), along with violinist Rainer Schmidt, who has been with the group for more than 20 years. For this return performance, the Hagen Quartet presents a program of Beethoven quartets, as part of UMS’s focus on musical renegades.

Program
Beethoven | String Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1
Beethoven | String Quartet in f minor, Op. 95
Beethoven | String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 74

Pavel Haas Quartet
Wednesday, April 18,  8pm

Based in Prague, the Pavel Haas Quartet is named for Czech composer Pavel Haas, who was imprisoned at Theresienstadt and died at Auschwitz in 1944. While the Quartet is passionately committed to the Czech repertoire, and particularly the three wonderful string quartets that Haas composed, all their performances receive extraordinary acclaim.

Program
Tchaikovsky | Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11
Pavel Haas | Quartet No. 2, Op. 7 “From the Monkey Mountains”
Smetana | Quartet No. 1 in e minor, “From My Life”

Return to the complete chronological list.

The University Musical Society announces its 11/12 season, opening Saturday, September 17, 2011, and running through Sunday, April 22, 2012. The season features 56 performances by 40 different artists/ensembles, with performances that range from cool and enigmatic to high-energy spectacle and programs that range from cutting-edge contemporary to classical favorites. So bust out your calendar and take a spin through this chronological listing of 11/12 performances; we know you’ll want to pencil in at least a few dozen events.

Subscription packages go on sale to the general public on Monday, May 9, and will be available through Friday, September 17. Current subscribers will receive renewal packets in early May and may renew their series upon receipt of the packet. Tickets to individual events will go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 22 (via www.ums.org) and Wednesday, August 24 (in person and by phone).  Not sure if you’re on our mailing list? Click here to update your mailing address to be sure you’ll receive a brochure.

Click here to download this listing as a printer-friendly PDF.

September 2011

Ahmad Jamal
Saturday, September 17, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Emerson String Quartet
Sunday, September 18, 4 pm
Rackham Auditorium

Mark Morris Dance Group
Friday, September 23, 8 pm
Saturday, September 24, 8 pm
Power Center

October 2011

John Malkovich in The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer
The Vienna Academy Orchestra
Louise Fribo and Valerie Vinzant, sopranos
Saturday, October 1, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Yuja Wang, piano
Sunday, October 9, 4 pm
Hill Auditorium

State Symphony Capella of Russia
Valeri Polyansky, conductor
Thursday, October 13, 7:30 pm
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

Goran Bregovic & His Wedding and Funeral Orchestra
Saturday, October 15, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Water Stains on the Wall
Cloud Gate Dance Theater
Lin Hwai-min, artistic director
Friday, October 21, 8 pm
Saturday, October 22, 8 pm
Power Center

Schola Cantorum of Venezuela
María Guinand, conductor
Thursday, October 27, 7:30
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

Samuel Beckett’s Endgame and Watt
Gate Theatre of Dublin
Michael Cogan, director
Thursday, October 27, 7:30 pm
Friday, October 28, 8 pm
Saturday, October 29, 8 pm
Power Center

November 2011

Apollo’s Fire with Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor
Jeannette Sorrell, music director
Thursday, November 3, 7:30 pm
Hill Auditorium

Audra McDonald, soprano
Friday, November 4, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Diego El Cigala
Saturday, November 5, 8 pm
Michigan Theater

AnDa Union from Inner Mongolia
Wednesday, November 9, 7:30 pm
Michigan Theater

A Night in Treme: The Musical Majesty of New Orleans
Rebirth Brass Band with special guests from New Orleans
Friday, November 11, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

St. Lawrence String Quartet
Saturday, November 12, 8 pm
Rackham Auditorium

Beijing Guitar Duo with Manuel Barrueco
Sunday, November 20, 4 pm
Rackham Auditorium

Canadian Brass
Sunday, November 27, 4 pm
Hill Auditorium

December 2011

Handel’s Messiah
Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra
UMS Choral Union
Jerry Blackstone, conductor
Saturday, December 3, 8 pm
Sunday, December 4, 2 pm
Hill Auditorium

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski, conductor
Janine Jansen, violin
Tuesday, December 6, 7:30 pm
Hill Auditorium

Veni Emmanuel: Tudor music for Christmas and Advent
Stile Antico
Wednesday, December 7, 7:30 pm
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

January 2012

Philip Glass & Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach
Lucinda Childs, choreographer
Friday, January 20, 7 pm
Saturday, January 21, 7 pm
Sunday, January 22, 2 pm
Power Center

Les Violons du Roy
Bernard Labadie, conductor
Maurice Steger, recorder
Saturday, January 28, 8 pm
Rackham Auditorium

From the Canyons to the Stars
Hamburg Symphony Orchestra
Jeffrey Tate, conductor
Francesco Tristano, piano
Daniel Landau, filmmaker
Sunday, January 29, 4 pm
Hill Auditorium

February 2012

Sabine Meyer and the Trio di Clarone
Saturday, February 4, 8 pm
Rackham Auditorium

Chamber Ensemble of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra
Wang Fujian, artistic director
Thursday, February 10, 7:30 pm
Rackham Auditorium

The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips, director
Thursday, February 16, 7:30 pm
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

Sweet Honey in the Rock
Friday, February 17, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

FAR
Random Dance
Wayne McGregor, artistic director
Saturday, February 18, 8 pm
Power Center

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
Wynton Marsalis, artistic director and trumpet
Wednesday, February 22, 7:30 pm
Hill Auditorium

Hagen Quartet
Thursday, February 23, 7:30 pm
Rackham Auditorium

March 2012

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
Pinchas Zukerman, violin
Friday, March 9, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Max Raabe and Palast Orchester
Saturday, March 10, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Denis Matsuev, piano
Thursday, March 15, 7:30 pm
Hill Auditorium

The Andersen Project
Ex Machina
Robert Lepage, artistic director
Thursday, March 15, 7:30 pm
Friday, March 16, 8 pm
Saturday, March 17, 8 pm
Power Center

American Mavericks
San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano
Jeremy Denk, piano
Paul Jacobs, organ
St. Lawrence String Quartet
Jessye Norman, soprano, Meredith Monk, vocalist, and Joan La Barbara, vocalist
Thursday, March 22 7:30 pm
Friday, March 23, 8 pm
Saturday, March 24, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

American Mavericks
San Francisco Symphony Chamber Concert
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Meredith Monk, vocalist, and Joan La Barbara, vocalist
Sunday, March 25, 4 pm
Rackham Auditorium

April 2012

Zakir Hussain and Master Musicians of India
Thursday, April 12, 7:30 pm
Hill Auditorium

Cheikh Lô
Friday, April 13, 8 pm
Michigan Theater

Charles Lloyd Quartet
Charles Lloyd, tenor saxophone
Jason Moran, piano
Reuben Rogers, bass
Eric Harland, drums
Saturday, April 14, 8 pm
Michigan Theater

Pavel Haas Quartet
Wednesday, April 18, 7:30 pm
Rackham Auditorium

Snow White
Ballet Preljocaj
Angelin Preljocaj, artistic director
Thursday, April 19, 7:30 pm
Friday, April 20, 8 pm
Saturday, April 21, 8 pm
Power Center

Academy of St. Martin-in-the Fields
Joshua Bell, leader and violin
Sunday, April 22, 4 pm
Hill Auditorium

Listing By Series

For more information about each of these performances and the series they are a part of, please click the links below:

11/12 Choral Union Series
11/12 Chamber Arts Series
11/12 Divine Voices Series
11/12 International Theater Series
11/12 Dance Series
11/12 Asia & World Series
11/12 Jazz Series
Renegade Series
11/12 Additional Events

Asia
UMS focuses its global programming on four different regions of the world — the Arab World, Africa, the Americas, and Asia — with one region enjoying a particular focus during each season. Following the celebration of the performing arts of the Americas in the 10/11 season, UMS turns its thematic focus to Asia, specifically highlighting artists from China, Taiwan, Inner Mongolia, and India.

Subscription packages go on sale to the general public on Monday, May 9, and will be available through Friday, September 17. Current subscribers will receive renewal packets in early May and may renew their series upon receipt of the packet. Tickets to individual events will go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 22 (via www.ums.org) and Wednesday, August 24 (in person and by phone). Not sure if you’re on our mailing list? Click here to update your mailing address to be sure you’ll receive a brochure.

Yuja Wang, piano
Sunday, October 9, 4pm
Hill Auditorium

Twenty-four-year-old Chinese pianist Yuja Wang is widely recognized for playing that combines the spontaneity and fearless imagination of youth with the discipline and precision of a mature artist. She made her UMS debut in January 2008, just months after graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music, and since then has spent each year criss-crossing the globe with a cavalcade of impressive debuts and awards, including the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, given to select musicians destined for bright solo careers.

Program
Ravel | Miroirs
Copland | Piano Variations
Rachmaninoff | Selected Preludes
Brahms | Sonata No. 1 or No. 3

Water Stains on the Wall
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre
Lin Hwai-min, artistic director
Friday, October 21, 8pm
Saturday, October 22, 8pm
Power Center

Trained in tai chi, meditation, Chinese opera movement, modern dance, and ballet, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre performs a rich repertoire with roots in Asian myths, folklore, and aesthetics, all infused with a contemporary perspective. For this long-awaited UMS debut, Cloud Gate presents Hwai-min’s newest work, Water Stains on the Wall. “Water stains on the wall” is a popular metaphor that represents the highest state in the aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy. Hwai-min and dancers take off from this metaphor and create and abstract work of beauty and magic that stands sublimely on its own.

AnDa Union from Inner Mongolia
Wednesday, November 9, 7:30pm
Michigan Theater

Formed in 2003, AnDa Union’s 14 members all hail from the Xilingol Grassland area of Inner Mongolia, a semi-autonomous region of China.  AnDa Union are part of a musical movement that is finding inspiration in old and forgotten folk music from the nomadic herdsman cultures of Inner and Outer Mongolia, drawing on a repertoire of music that has all but disappeared during China’s recent tumultuous past. Its members are accomplished singers and instrumentalists, performing on the traditional horse-head fiddle (tsuur), the maodun chaoer, a three-holed flute, as well as Mongolian versions of the dulcimer, zither, lute, and mouth harp.

Beijing Guitar Duo with Manuel Barrueco
Sunday, November 20, 4 pm
Rackham Auditorium

Meng Su and Yameng Wang are widely noted for their outstanding technique and artistic musicality. They first met at the Central Conservatory in Beijing, where they began studying with the acclaimed professor Chen Zhi as children. Both women have won the Tokyo International Guitar Competition (Yameng Wang won it at age 12), and have received heaps of acclaim and recognition at international guitar events and from other seasoned guitarists, including Sergio Assad who has written and dedicated works to them. In 2008, they went to study with Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and officially established themselves as the Beijing Guitar Duo. Both individually and together, their impressive talents come together to create one of the most excited guitar duos on the scene today.

Chamber Ensemble of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra
Friday, February 10, 8pm
Rackham Auditorium

The 20 members of the Shanghai Traditional Chamber Ensemble are drawn from the first large-scale modern orchestra of traditional instruments in China. While Chinese stars such as Lang Lang have brought new attention to Western classical music in China, this ensemble provides a window into the traditional Chinese classical music that dates back centuries.

Zakir Hussain and the Master Musicians of India
Fazel Qureshi, tabla and kanjira
Rakesh Chaurasia, bansuri
Dilshad Khan, sarangi
Navin Sharma, dholak
Abbos Kosimov, doyra
Meitei Pung Cholom Performing Troupe (Dancing Drummers of Manipur)
Thursday, April 12, 7:30pm
Hill Auditorium

Zakir Hussain is today appreciated both in the field of percussion and in the music world at large as an international phenomenon. A classical tabla virtuoso of the highest order, his consistently brilliant and exciting performances have not only established him as a national treasure in his own country, but have earned him worldwide fame. For this return appearance, he performs with a host of Indian classical music greats, as well as the dancing drummers of Manipur.

Other World Music
In addition to the events from Asia listed above, UMS presents Goran Bregovic and His Wedding and Funeral Orchestra, which combines a Serbian Gypsy Band, string ensemble, orthodox male choir, and two Bulgarian female vocalists in a wild ride in Hill Auditorium; flamenco star Diego El Cigala; Max Raabe and Palast Orchester, recreating the high style and musical glory of the Weimar era; and Senegalese singer/songwriter Cheikh Lô.

Goran Bregovic & His Wedding and Funeral Orchestra
A Serbian Gypsy Band, Classical String Ensemble,
Orthodox Male Choir, and Two Bulgarian Female Vocalists
Saturday, October 15, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

“It was party time…a Balkan free-for-all, and the jam-packed auditorium went wild…” (The Jerusalem Post) Balkan music icon and acclaimed film composer Goran Bregovic celebrates the music of Europe’s Gypsy tradition. With a 20-piece ensemble consisting of a Serbian gypsy band, a classical string ensemble, an all-male choir, two Bulgarian female singers and Bregovic’s own electric guitar, the music blends raucous gypsy dance tunes with traditional Eastern European choral music, spinning it all through a rock ‘n roll cycle.

Diego El Cigala
Saturday, November 5, 8 pm
Michigan Theater

Diego is a famous flamenco singer who started off by singing for well-known flamenco dancers but has since “moved to the front,” which in flamenco slang means to sing on one’s own instead of accompanying a dancer. He has collaborated with a variety of musicians, including Bebo Valdés, the Cuban pianist and bandleader with whom he recorded Lágrimas Negras, an album that created a sensation in Spain, becoming one of the best-selling albums in that country’s history and receiving a pile of awards, including five Latin Grammy nominations and the New York Times’ 2003 “Album of the Year” honors.

Berlin Nocturne
Max Raabe & His Palast Orchester
Saturday, March 10, 8pm
Hill Auditorium

“Max Raabe and his 12-piece Palast Orchester are re-creating the music of the Weimar era with verve and class.” (Time Out New York) A nostalgic homage to the legendary nocturnal flair of the Weimar Era, the debonair Max Raabe embodies the high style and music glory of the 1920s and 1930s, all backed by his stellar 12-member band. His art lies in revealing the enigmatic intelligence, ambiguity, musical power and complexity of the “German chansons” from the turbulent Weimar Republic — and then shaking it up with a completely unexpected cover from the contemporary pop realm.

Cheikh Lô
Friday, April 13, 8pm
Michigan Theater

Cheikh Lô is one of the great mavericks of African music. A superb singer and songwriter, as well as a distinctive guitarist, percussionist, and drummer, he has personalized and distilled a variety of influences from West and Central Africa to create a style that is uniquely his own. After emigrating to Paris and then returning to Senegal in the late 1980s, Lô attracted both the attention of and comparisons to Youssou N’Dour, who produced two of his early albums. His signature blend of semi-acoustic flavors — West and Central African, funk, Cuban, flamenco — has been distilled into his most mature, focused, yet diverse statement today, with his husky, sensual voice sounding better than ever.

Return to the complete chronological list.